Companions will kill this game

YandereGirlfriend

I think that Compansions will be fine. I'm more disappointed that nothing is being done to actually improve or expand upon our current options for combat (e.g. skill lines, weapon type, class).

I do wonder how Companions will work with dungeon/trial mechanics though. The cheap solution is simply to make them invulnerable so they can simply ignore damage mechanics that players otherwise have to respond to. Of course, not all mechanics work like that and rather require some affirmative action on behalf of players (easy example is tank blocking the volcano in Blootroot Forge). It is impossible to pre-program dungeon-specific AI packages for Companions so certain dungeons might just be off-limits except for an all-human party.

Metal10957

I love the idea... the lag will probably be unplayable though.
I am unsure if you can take companions inside dungeons with a full group. Every dungeon is 12 man if that is the case, and trails will be 36. Very concerned.

lordspyder

redspecter23 wrote: »

Seraphayel wrote: »

Ban companions from group dungeons and trials and we‘re good. In an instanced setting that’s distinctively created for group activities companions just shouldn’t work.

The one thing that companions everywhere will kill is performance though.

I have a feeling that companions may be banned in queue groups specifically. I just can't see how it would work if they were allowed. You wouldn't need to ban them from preformed groups though. If a friend and myself want to run a duo dungeon, I don't see the issue with that as long as we're not impacting the queue anyway.

I disagree on the second part. I can't imagine how companions will impact performance at all. They aren't much more than a glorified mob with a set script and they will be limited in most situations if they take up a group slot. 2 players and 2 companions in a dungeon shouldn't be any more impactful than 4 players would be in that same instance.

I'm pretty sure it'll work the way it does in SWTOR where groups are limited to 4, with that being any mix of people and companions

Starlock

ereboz wrote: »

Starlock wrote: »

When you realize that playing solo is the default state in this game and that grouping of any kind is a highly optional activity that many don't partake in already, I think you'll become less pessimistic.

I wouldn't call it pessimistic to lose the ability to play with other people in an online game I enjoyed as an online game

You won't lose the ability to play with other people. I haven't heard anything about the developers removing group finder, the ability to form groups, or turning off the servers and making Elder Scrolls Offline.

spartaxoxo

Auth3nticGlitch wrote: »

Except they said on stream that it will be allowed in vet dungeons and I see no reason for it not to be allowed in performed groups of any difficulty tbh.

REALLY? SICK! I'm excited.

Thechuckage

The only ones that will really be impacted are group players. GF queues will probably slow a bit, no big deal there. Issues could arise where dungeon group boots someone they think are underperforming so they can use a companion instead (saw this happen in SWTOR) and then argue about who has the better companion (also witnessed)

If someone who has been crutching along with companion goes into harder dungeons, it will be a larger shock than it currently is on how much the player input matters for damage, mechanics, general effort compared to overland.

And companions being excluded from pvp will lead to some staying out rather than leaving the comp behind.

Overall, good for soloists. Not great for group players. Not the end of the world.

Bradyfjord

TequilaFire wrote: »

But what will you do if your companion bugs out during a fight?

Kick the noob, and make a complaint thread. It's an mmo tradition. /sarcasm

linuxlady

Ulliceta gra-Kogg is my first choice for companion, and as she is likely no longer with the psijics i'm betting she's available.

PS i preordered on one account becuase this companion AI looks like something i would appreciate. And since i didn't have greymoor i bought the full thing and not the upgrade to get both even though i didn't want scrying i did want t see western skyrim.

YandereGirlfriend

linuxlady wrote: »

Ulliceta gra-Kogg is my first choice for companion, and as she is likely no longer with the psijics i'm betting she's available.

Is the she Orc mage who meets you outside of Mannimarco's delve on Artaeum?

If so, then I wholeheartedly agree! She was super cool!

AcadianPaladin

I believe you can only have one companion with you.

Regarding dungeons and the group finder, I'd imagine companions count against the max party size of four. I believe they are intended to much more like another character than a summoned pet. When the GF finder sends four players into a dungeon then the players take priority and any companions won't make it. And you could only have them join you in a dungeon if the group size is less than four. Handy for dungeon finder stuff if you lose a player (afk, kick, player leaves, etc). And very handy if you form your own group of less than four. Just my suspicions on how that aspect of companions will work, but makes sense to me and seems consistent what what the devs have said on the live streams.

linuxlady

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

linuxlady wrote: »

Ulliceta gra-Kogg is my first choice for companion, and as she is likely no longer with the psijics i'm betting she's available.

Is the she Orc mage who meets you outside of Mannimarco's delve on Artaeum?

If so, then I wholeheartedly agree! She was super cool!

Thats the one!

https://mmobits.com/2018/05/16/traitors-vault-delve-guide/

Ratzkifal

Since you can only have one companion active at once, trials will still require at least 6 people, and we can assume companions have no idea how to do mechanics. You can use them as your healers maybe (funny, ZOS is making healers even more obsolete), but at the end of the day this won't change anything except improve quality of life of people who are playing solo already. Getting actual humans to help you will always be superior, but at least now when you are trying to kill Dragons in Elsweyr you might be able to do it now even if there are just three people around.

Psiion

Greetings,

After removing and editing a few posts, we would like to remind everyone that Baiting is against the Forum's Community Rules, and generally non-constructive. Please keep the Community Rules in mind moving forward.

Klad

The game is fine companions are fine.

The only difference you will see is a lot less mock outrage during dungeon finder and claims of Fake tank or fake healer.


I think that what a lot of people are bummed about is they will have less opportunity to cause drama and pit players against each other... which means less toxicity.

Most folks will now grab a friend or two and complete Dungeon+ or some of the Trials...in fact theory crafting of what Companion to use and what abilities to equip them with will probably be the new pastime. Sooner or later certain companions will be on the Crown Store, which means an even bigger cash haul for ZoS.

I think you will also see much smaller close-knit guilds, that are more productive and less dramatic that the larger guilds.

Just because a game changes doesn't mean a game dies.

NeeScrolls

Klad wrote: »

Just because a game changes doesn't mean a game dies.

QFE ^ , and i always think it's so humorous when gamers immediately goto the patented "game is dead" trope from inside playing the very game they're trying to diminish lol

While i still stand behind my other post(s) on this potentially contentious topic , i also believe 1 of the great things about MMO's is how they can truly evolve. (including our Community! )

Enriquezarmy

ereboz wrote: »

with the addition of companions, the game is basically just a solo game now with other people doing their thing. PUGS will no longer exist because people can make their own groups with companions, also the dps will be if anything better with a companion, thus forcing 'pet' builds on everyone for best dps. I don't see any part of this that will work out well in an online game

Obviously>Never played SWTOR

It will help in Solo mode doing Overland content you will still need groups for Dungeons / Trials and World Bosses.

Even in SWTOR the DPS provided by a companion is marginal, healing is where it's at and Tanking is good if you're squishy.

Chicken littles in Forums need to stop. TYVM.

Matchimus

The average pug will pull more dps than these things.

Xargas13

Companions might become unpopular, and I bet forums will whine for a while after the release, but that's about it, saying that it will kill the game is overkill. And some other MMOs have companions, SWTOR comes to mind, and it doing just fine.

master_vanargand

I am very much looking forward to Companions.
I want Companions to wear Nord Hero, Breton Hero, and Elf Hero costumes.
I look like the main character in this game, cool!!

SilverBride

I'm going to invite my Companion over to my house for dinner.

karekiz

ereboz wrote: »

with the addition of companions, the game is basically just a solo game now with other people doing their thing. PUGS will no longer exist because people can make their own groups with companions, also the dps will be if anything better with a companion, thus forcing 'pet' builds on everyone for best dps. I don't see any part of this that will work out well in an online game

That means companions can do our raids VSS HM portal team?

Sweet. Gonna love 6 man VSS HM runs.

deleted008293

You guys have nooo idea... Thats the best thing that ever happened in eso... You will have to log in daily to fed your companion, put him to sleep, give him a bookie, take him to an adventure, care for him, or her. Who wouldn't just love that? Its like having a virtual pet to care for... and on top of that it will be rewardy as well.

ThorianB

If companions negatively affect your gameplay, and it probably won't, you need to place blame where it belongs. The people who use companions are not to blame. The people who asked for such a feature are not to blame.

The community asked for more of solo/duo option to group content because of the toxicity and gatekeeping in this game. The toxic players in vet dungeons, the fake roles and selfish speed runners on normal dungeons. The gatekeepers to trials and group arena content.

People want to play the game they payed for and to often there is some neckbeard that thinks they should be able to control how others play the game. Players who think that everyone should play their way and "practice" on dummies and watch videos and other prep for content.

For years people have complained about this behavior only to be met with rebuttals like " If i ran a dungeon 200 times, i don't want to wait for you do the quests and loot bodies" " I have pledges to do on 18 characters every day, i don't have time to wait on casuals" and some in game love like " If you can't do at least 40k DPS on a trial dummy, then you aren't good enough to even attempt this trial"( when the trial requires no such DPS to complete), " Don't know boss mechanics? Seriously man, watch a video on the dungeon mechanics before you queue for it!" " I don't know if your trolling me or what, but if you can't do at least 25k DPS in a vet dungeon, you need to drop group", etc etc.

Companions are a result of those players. Companions allow us to play with people who aren't toxic, who aren't selfish, and who let us play the way we want. Companions are always available when you want them to be and they always want to do what you want to do.

If your game is negatively affected by companions you can blame all those toxic selfish controlling players that elected themselves gatekeepers of ESO content.

Personally, i am looking forward to companions. I hope we can eventually have an entire party of companions like Baldur's Gate. It would be great to be able to do all content in this game and actually enjoy it because no one is looking over my shoulder trying to turn it into some highly skilled job I don't get paid for. I have a very old school approach to gaming.
I like the challenge of trying content and if i don't succeed changing tactics until i do. I like running with people who aren't highly trained and specialized in this dungeon or trial. I like when the game challenges me to overcome obstacles.

Many gamers today lost the meaning of gaming. They turn it into a job. They study and practice for it. They try to become overly efficient at it and then they complain its to easy. Well of course it is, You memorized every mechanic before you actually met the boss, you spent 12 hours practicing for the boss on a dummy, and you have a set of gear for every boss. Of course it's to easy because you took all the fun out of it by trying to godmode it. It is not much different than opening the console in single player and typing "imacheater" and "godmode". The challenge is learning HOW to overcome the obstacles and theses gatekeepers basically cheat by looking up how to overcome challenges.

So not only are they gatekeeping but they literally ruin the gameplay for REAL gamers. Give me companions with terrible AI any day over that nonsense.

SilverBride

@ThorianB

That is the most beautiful post I have ever read. You nailed it.

WraithShadow13

For me, personally, the community has been... relatively toxic. Not a lot of interactions have been good. Mind you, there are still a lot of amazing and uber helpful players who go well out of their way to help newer players and the casuals, but overall, it's been a clear 90% or so to the opposite (my personal experience). I have a steady eso buddy, so this will go a long way to help us NOT deal with the horrible people in this game. One time, it was just a guy who immediately started typing a racial slur (with the hard er), multiple times people freak out on you for not playing their specific way, like their name was ZOS Von Microsoft, getting excessively creepy on a female character in pvp, and even today, i went into a vet mode and had the healer tell me off and say that should be my last vet dungeon JUST because the tank and healer had a 3% dps. I was half the team damage, and i GET that 25k is entry-level for vet but regardless of the role or damage (my main has been rolling just fine through the vet and his damage isn't much better), most of the vet experience has been completely toxic for me with a few great exceptions from the last two months or so.

I will gladly accept companions if they're adding more value to the game. More story, more personal touches for your character, extra help for when you need that extra oomph, and everything is all fantastic and i look forward to seeing how companions are, going forward. Admittedly, though, i would still be okay with them if the ONLY benefit was not having to deal with the massive amount of a-holes. They keep saying they did it because "people are scary" but they also let the community get too toxic, so it's less of a "scary" and more of a "horrible and make people want to game elsewhere", for me and the guildmates.

Bradyfjord

I'm looking forward to having companions for when me and my brother are running dungeons by ourselves. It requires different builds than running with four.

WraithShadow13

ThorianB wrote: »

If companions negatively affect your gameplay, and it probably won't, you need to place blame where it belongs. The people who use companions are not to blame. The people who asked for such a feature are not to blame.

100% agree with this whole post. This game does nothing to teach you how to do a million dps or how to meta, etc. You're just tossed in and told to enjoy the massive amount of abilities to choose from. It's great that so many people have figured out how to DO that million dps but when the copy/paste crowd gets in and becomes super entitled because some one tells them what buttons to push when, it really kills the fun for others. I have a small guild, and the main crafter for said guild, so i KINDA need to loot the ever lovin' snot out of everything. Sometimes i like to go through the story to the dungeons or have never been able to actually LISTEN to it, since everyone is go go go and scream scream scream when you aren't. I have several friends that are HUUUUGE Critical Role fans, so it would be nice for them to hear the VO from those actors. With the dungeons and the pvp being so full of toxic players, it's hard to do ANY of that, and more so, it's discouraging. They complain that no one plays tanks but the instant someone takes a single hit, it's the tanks fault and the tank is trash and the tank needs to be built to do everything BUT any sort of damage, blah blah blah. When healing, i've sat there and WATCHED glass cannons standing in or actually running into the aoe's and hazards, then blame the healer when they died. like the healer is supposed to heal them through everything INCLUDING the boss one-shots and their own disregard of mechanics. All so they can just spam the damage and act like they're carrying the party.

It's insane.

As i said in my above post, the tank and healer did 3% group damage and freaked out, leaving the match and telling me to never play dungeons again. I get that ZOS doesn't want to balance the game or nerf the highest dps skills in-game, but there are other ways to get around that than just pandering TOO those people with the uber builds. Especially if those people are intentionally going into the lower level content and @#%!ing on the people in that.


Companions won't ruin the game any more than the player base already does. I just hope they're not over-priced like a lot of the house guests are.

Rasoma

I suspect that the number of people who solo adventure is actually in the majority. BioWare probably saw this trend a long time ago when they launched Star Wars: The Old Republic with it's companions (which it later tweaked to allow any companions to take on any role and basically god like in their powers). They even added in droids to the flashpoints to allow solo running of them. Square Enix have done the same for FFXIV (though only on new content dungeons and not trials).

Online games need to adjust to the player base that pays the bills the most and like I said - I think that is solo players.

This is not going to destroy the game for those who want to group - it will actually means that a heap more people will take part in activities that previously needed grouping but they did not take part in due to anxiety, bad memories, play style differences etc.

Septimus_Magna

ThorianB wrote: »

If companions negatively affect your gameplay, and it probably won't, you need to place blame where it belongs. The people who use companions are not to blame. The people who asked for such a feature are not to blame.

The community asked for more of solo/duo option to group content because of the toxicity and gatekeeping in this game. The toxic players in vet dungeons, the fake roles and selfish speed runners on normal dungeons. The gatekeepers to trials and group arena content.

People want to play the game they payed for and to often there is some neckbeard that thinks they should be able to control how others play the game. Players who think that everyone should play their way and "practice" on dummies and watch videos and other prep for content.

For years people have complained about this behavior only to be met with rebuttals like " If i ran a dungeon 200 times, i don't want to wait for you do the quests and loot bodies" " I have pledges to do on 18 characters every day, i don't have time to wait on casuals" and some in game love like " If you can't do at least 40k DPS on a trial dummy, then you aren't good enough to even attempt this trial"( when the trial requires no such DPS to complete), " Don't know boss mechanics? Seriously man, watch a video on the dungeon mechanics before you queue for it!" " I don't know if your trolling me or what, but if you can't do at least 25k DPS in a vet dungeon, you need to drop group", etc etc.

Companions are a result of those players. Companions allow us to play with people who aren't toxic, who aren't selfish, and who let us play the way we want. Companions are always available when you want them to be and they always want to do what you want to do.

If your game is negatively affected by companions you can blame all those toxic selfish controlling players that elected themselves gatekeepers of ESO content.

Personally, i am looking forward to companions. I hope we can eventually have an entire party of companions like Baldur's Gate. It would be great to be able to do all content in this game and actually enjoy it because no one is looking over my shoulder trying to turn it into some highly skilled job I don't get paid for. I have a very old school approach to gaming.
I like the challenge of trying content and if i don't succeed changing tactics until i do. I like running with people who aren't highly trained and specialized in this dungeon or trial. I like when the game challenges me to overcome obstacles.

Many gamers today lost the meaning of gaming. They turn it into a job. They study and practice for it. They try to become overly efficient at it and then they complain its to easy. Well of course it is, You memorized every mechanic before you actually met the boss, you spent 12 hours practicing for the boss on a dummy, and you have a set of gear for every boss. Of course it's to easy because you took all the fun out of it by trying to godmode it. It is not much different than opening the console in single player and typing "imacheater" and "godmode". The challenge is learning HOW to overcome the obstacles and theses gatekeepers basically cheat by looking up how to overcome challenges.

So not only are they gatekeeping but they literally ruin the gameplay for REAL gamers. Give me companions with terrible AI any day over that nonsense.

I agree with a lot of your points, it think there is a massive difference in players just wanting to play for fun and others wanting to perform. Personally I would at least ask for tips if I had no clue about the mechanics but some players like to figure it out in the moment when they find out they dont know the mechanics.

I respect everyone's position in this but I have to say its annoying to wipe constantly because group members dont follow mechanics. If you want to learn it on the fly be sure to pay attention to what other people are saying in chat. Otherwise its disrespectful and you're just wasting other peoples time.

Companions will probably increase the gap between these player groups, two experienced players with companions dont need any other players to fill up the group. And two casual players with companions will probably have a tough time in normal DLC dungeons.

spartaxoxo

ThorianB wrote: »

So not only are they gatekeeping but they literally ruin the gameplay for REAL gamers. Give me companions with terrible AI any day over that nonsense.

They are more likely doing this because both playstyles are perfectly legitimate and should be made room for to coexist peacefully. People who shouldn't be playing in groups because they treat others players like they are the nonplayable characters in their single player games can be removed from queue and allowed to explore stuff blind of any group expectations. They get to play their way and speedrunners don't gotta feel like they are being slowed down. Win win

Also no group gets to claim they are the "real" gamers. 😬